Healthy plant-based swaps for you favourite comfort foods

Junk food is great right? It’s tasty and moreish, but it’s not always so great for our health. The likes of pizza, crispy fries and dessert make it difficult to avoid, but don’t worry! Here are some healthier alternatives to your favourite comfort foods.

Don’t Step Away from The French Fries

The next time you want fries try baking them instead of deep frying them litres of oil (Give these Oil-free Potato Wedges recipe a go!). Or, try tossing your sweet potato wedges in a bag with olive oil and semolina. This coating will ensure you get a crispy oven chip every time. You can also try using a healthy oil like coconut to help reduce your cholesterol levels.

Make a Condiment the Star!

Making your own condiments can be an excellent way to give your meals a flavour boost. Have you tried making your own pesto? Delicious on pasta!

You can also try making your own hummus, salad dressing or salsa. It is super simple and healthy way of adding some flavour to less than exciting meals.

Add Some Smoky Flavours

Smoking food is a simple way of packing loads of flavour into your food. It also adds a great complexity to your dishes. You can either hot or cold smoke your food to give different depth of flavour. If you were wondering, hot smoking both cooks and flavours your food whereas cold smoking only flavours it

I’m sure we’ve all heard of smoking meat and fish however, you can also smoke fruit and vegetables using a propane meat smoker. Smoking can open you up to a world of new flavours! What about smoked garlic, smoked aubergines or even smoked mushrooms? You can also use different woods to give different flavours or even soak the wood in your wine. Our favourite is soaking cedar in our local wineries cabernet sauvignon!

Healthy Fried Rice, That Still Tastes like Rice

Rice can be good in moderation however, if you find that when you cook it there is enough for the whole village (and you managed it eat it all) it might be time to find an alternative.

All you need to do is roughly chop your cauliflower and throw in a food processor for a minute. You will find that the texture is very similar to rice. Use this ‘faux’ rice can be used in any dish where you would have normally used white rice and it tastes just the same. One of our favourites is cauliflower fried rice, the family didn’t even blink an eyelid when I served this one up!

We Scream for Healthy Ice CreamDairy alternatives are very readily available in your local grocery store. But if you would like to make your own ice cream then trying banana nice cream is very fast and easy. To make banana nice cream all you need to do is freeze 3 to 4 bananas and blend in your blender. The result is a healthy version of ice cream. Use your favourite toppings such as nuts and dark chocolate to make this even more of a special treat. Try this Peanut Butter Nice-cream recipe!

Totally Tasty Pudding

Chocolate pudding is great for when you want something decadent and sweet for dessert.

Try cutting out some of the calories by using an avocado base. Yes that’s right, you can make yourpudding with avocados. You want to blend some cacao powder, non-dairy milk, avocado, and sweetener in your heavy-duty blender. Let the mixture chill in your fridge a few hours. The result is creamy chocolate which is also really food for you.

Don’t Ditch the Desserts

Some healthy dessert recipes are so crafty, you can hardly taste the difference

Why not give these Raspberry-filled Bounty Balls a try? There are so many options for healthy desserts using alternative ingredients. Just remember, that just because they are healthier, doesn’t mean you can eat all of them, save some for the kids.

Switching out your favourite foods for healthier alternatives is easy and simple! Take the time to prepare food at home, get to know what you’re putting into your body and say goodbye to the guilt of satisfying cravings — because with these healthy alternatives — your body will thank you for it.